Halmstad Colloquium

We are planning, but there is no decision at the moment. Welcome back!

Recent talks:

Be ready for new opportunities! Nanotechnology will totally change our society, industry and lives

Maria Strømme, professor of Nanotechnology at Uppsala University

October 16 (This talk is not available on Youtube)

With nanotechnology we can determine what properties a material should have. The technology creates completely unique opportunities for sustainable development in all areas where we use materials. Maria Strømme will provide examples of how to treat cancer better, diagnose diseases before we get symptoms, teach our bodies to rejuvenate themselves, create environmentally friendly and smart packaging, develop new 4D printing technology that helps us solve grand challenges, give our clothes completely new features, make patches that determine how wounds should heal and show results from the world’s first Grand Prix with nano cars.

Professor Maria Strømme

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Data Ethnographies and Digital Futures: contingency and improvisation in a quantified world

Data-driven analysis and prediction has recently opened up new opportunities for designers and policy makers to imagine and intervene in contemporary and future worlds. This lecture probes behind the scenes of the everyday worlds in which such data is produced. It explores the limits of what we can know through measurement-based research techniques, and the fragility of any claims to know what people might do, feel or need in a future that is inevitably and inescapably uncertain.

Ethnographic attention to the contingent, improvised and personalized ways that people experience and navigate the world reveals a different story to that which is suggested by quantitative measures. Ethnography provides a unique research lens into the otherwise invisible, unspoken about, sensory, emotional and often mundane elements of the everyday.

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How to build the best clock in the world: From the basic concept of metrology to related Nobel prizes and applications

Martin Zelan, Research Scientist, Swedish National Metrology Institute at SP

October 20, 2016

Time is a well-known concept for everyone. It is also the SI-unit that we humans can measure with the highest accuracy and precision. This makes it particular interesting for various applications such as navigation and fundamental physics. In this talk I will introduce the basic concept of metrology and the current and the presumed future SI-system. I will then present an overview of the history of time measurements before introducing the Nobel Prize winning concepts and techniques, such as laser cooling and frequency combs, and how these techniques have been utilized to build so-called optical atomic clocks that neither will gain nor lose a second during the lifetime of our universe. Finally I will discuss the potential everyday applications for such clocks.

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The 5G Frontier; mm-Waves (Video will be published soon)

Professor Michael Faulkner, Victoria University, Australia

September 1, 2016.

With the introduction of the fourth generation (4G) of wireless equipment almost complete, the focus of the research community has switched to the fifth generation, targeted for commercialisation in 2020. Increased data rates, a renewed focus on the internet-of-things and the scarcity of spectrum will force operators into higher frequency bands despite deteriorating performance in terms of coverage. The new mm-wave bands under consideration offer both the opportunity for wider bandwidths and the challenge of providing the coverage. Repeaters might be necessary to extend coverage zones. A number of research organisations are doing measurements to better understand how the mm-wave bands behave in different environments. The presentation will describe the mm-wave measurement program currently underway at Victoria University, which aims to identify performance issues under local conditions.